Strand: Writing Applications

LA.910.4.3.1 The student will write essays that state a position or claim, present detailed evidence, examples, and reasoning to support effective arguments and emotional appeals, and acknowledge and refute opposing arguments; and

LA.910.4.3.2 The student will include persuasive techniques.

Read aloud Chapter 11 of Slow Way Home

Convince a judge that kids should be allowed to choose with whom they live.

Convince a judge that kids should not be allowed to choose who they live with.

Remember: the purpose of a persuasive essay is to either change someone’s mind about something, or to get him/her to take an action, that is get him/her to do something about a situation.

To persuade someone of something, you have to first get inside of his head and figure out what he might be thinking so that you can effectively deal with your opposition.

If you don’t know what your audience is thinking, you need to imagine that you are writing to one person who believes in a certain way.

For example, for this essay, a judge may have had a thirteen year old child who wanted to live with his father because his father had no rules and was rarely home, while the mother was home, had rules and loved her son.

Or, on the opposite side, a judge may have had an 8 year old child like Brandon who loved his mother, but really needed to live with his grandparents.